Still, to the extent that you really do believe that cognitive abilities are (a) important, and (b) strongly biologically determined, shouldn't you also believe that the poor are more unlucky than anything else, and haven't done anything to deserve hunger, lousy housing, poor medical care, or crappy educations? If genetic luck plays a big role in making us who we are, then support for income redistribution from the rich to the poor is almost a logical necessity for anyone with a moral sense more highly developed than a five-year-old's.
Long story short, belief in biological determinism should make you into a liberal. And yet, here in the real world it mostly does just the opposite. Go figure.
(Words of Wisdom courtesy Kevin Drum of MotherJones magazine)
1 comment:
Even more so surely, the luck of being born in the US which makes you (relative the vast majority of the world population) one of the lottery of life winners to start with. But most Americans seem to belief that they are entitiled to their luck.
Logically though, a strong belief in biological determinism would be consistent with thinking that it is appropriate that some people should be at the bottom of the heap, and that there is no obligation to help them - Social Darwinism is a common term.
Post a Comment